HPR Station Updates

On the evening of October 31, HPR dares to darken the 70-seat concert hall located in its Honolulu broadcast studios for a Halloween event with Jeff Gere and Alton Chung. These two master storytellers will be telling tales of true encounters with Pele, others about a haunted poi pounder, shark people, stones that curse, a kissing ghost, and more. “Spooky Tales” in the Atherton Studio is recommended for ages 18 and above. Costumes are optional.

HPR's fall membership campaign came to a close on time at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, October 5. The station successfully raised $802,000 and welcomes the 815 individuals who became new members.

This drive will be remembered for the dramatic half-day hearing on the Supreme Court nominee, which fell on the second day of on-air fundraising. HPR is proud to have stood by its mission and broadcast the proceedings in their entirety, knowing that by doing so it risked not meeting its $845,000 goal by the scheduled tenth day of the drive.

The station is immensely grateful to the 2400 donors who contributed during the campaign. Mahalo also to those who gave of their time and talents.

America On the Line is aweekday radio call-in program to bring Americans together for a national conversation during the lead-up to the midterm elections. It airs live Monday through Thursday, 2 - 3pm Hawaii Standard Time (8-9 p.m. Eastern time), September 10-November 8, 2018.

For the seventh consecutive year, Hawai‘i Public Radio has been awarded a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest charity evaluator. HPR's top rating demonstrates that the member-supported station executes its mission of providing non-commercial cultural and informational programming in a financially efficient way and is committed to accountability and transparency.

Hawaiʻi Public Radio announces the appointment of four new members to its 20-person, volunteer Board of Directors. Joining the Board are Linda Lee K. (Cissy) Farm, Susan Ing, Kathryn S. Matayoshi, and Konrad Ng, PhD. The Board also welcomed new ex-officio member Joseph Uno, chair of HPR’s Community Advisory Board.

You can now listen to your favorite public radio station using the hands-free, wireless speakers from Amazon, called Echo or Echo Dot. These speakers are connected to the Alexa Voice Service and, on your voice command, can fill a room with quality sound.

To enjoy HPR in your smart home, first connect the device to the internet using the Alexa app (wifi required). Next, you’ll want to enable this skill by telling her/it:

“Alexa, enable Hawaiʻi Public Radio.”

Anytime you want to listen to HPR, you’ll need to use these specific phrases:

Hawaiʻi Public Radio begins its semi-annual, on-air fundraiser on September 27. The local nonprofit is currently supported by 14,000 member donors, as well as nearly 200 local businesses and foundations. During the anticipated ten-day campaign, the station seeks to break its own pledge drive record by enrolling a thousand new individual members and growing the rolls of those who contribute monthly from 45 to 50 percent.

Hawaiʻi Public Radio announced the completion of its relocated Maui transmitters on August 8. The nonprofit public radio network previously broadcast its KKUA 90.7 (HPR-1) and KIPM 89.7 (HPR-2) frequencies from a site located 4,500 feet above Kīhei on lands held by the ʻUlupalakua Ranch.

By any measure, Hawai‘i Public Radio is well-positioned to meet the challenges of the future. We count a record number of 13,900 station members; 45% of them (more than ever) are now monthly Sustainers. Local businesses and organizations continue to find value in HPR underwriting opportunities. With nearly 200,000* listeners across the Hawaiian islands and the globe, there is yet more potential for growth.

Hawaiʻi Public Radio hosts the return of neo-soul singer/songwriter Maryanne Ito to the Atherton Studio on Saturday, August 19th at 7:30 p.m. Likened to Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, Ito combines a soulful jazz style with R&B, reggae, and hip hop. In her upcoming Atherton concert, she performs some new music, as well as new arrangements of work on her debut album “Waking Up." She'll also be putting her twist on jazz standards and soul classics.

Hawaiʻi Public Radio’s Board of Directors capped their first meeting of the fiscal year on July 24 by approving a 2017-2018 budget showing revenue of $5.49 million. This is an increase of 1.8 percent over the station’s fiscal year 2017’s projected year-end revenue. HPR, a 35-year-old independent nonprofit, generates 94 percent of its support from local individuals, families, businesses, and foundations.

The all-star line-up of local musicians in Vibra Cubana present an evening of Afro-Cuban and Hawaiian jazz in HPR’s Atherton Studio on Saturday, August 12, at 7:30 p.m. Led by vibraphonist Thomas Mackay, the ensemble includes pianist Tommy James, percussionist Bobo Butires, bassist Ian Sheridan, and drummer Scott Schafer. The program features the music of two legendary vibraphonists, Arthur Lyman and Cal Tjader, and exotica classics such as “Yellowbird,” “Quiet Village,” “Dahil Sa Iyo,” and “Black Orchid.”

Mango Season, a Honolulu-based, jazz, soul, funk, seven-piece band serves up an intoxicating mix of vintage soul, jazz-infused harmonies, and booty-shaking funk. For their HPR Atherton Studio concert on Saturday, July 22, at 7:30 p.m, they'll be featuring tunes from their recently released sophomore album, “Point Panic,” with a Brazilian and Latin jazz twist.

Jamarek, Honolulu’s premier African dance band, brings its African and Latin-inspired music to Hawaiʻi Public Radio’s Atherton Studio on Saturday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. They will be performing selections from their recently released studio album “Fechal” (which means “Dance” in Wolof, one of the indigenous languages of Senegal, West Africa), as well as other newly arranged songs. Dancing is encouraged – and may be irresistable!

Vibraphonist Thomas Mackay and pianist Tommy James bring their mind-expanding interpretations of tunes from the Great American Songbook, others by Chick Corea and Joe Locke, as well as their own originals to HPR’s Atherton Studio on Saturday, June 17, at 7:30 p.m. Their musical partnership takes jazz standards beyond the usual boundaries with their highly improvisational style.

Inspired by the creative spirit of Hawaiʻi Public Radio, Hawaiʻi’s only Afro Funk Soul band Good Foot will be showcasing their original compositions in the Atherton Studio on Saturday, June 10, 7:30 p.m. Known primarily for their high energy club performances, their Atherton debut promises music that will get people up on their feet dancing, while keeping their brains dancing as well. Good Foot’s eight band members are Capt.

One of Hawaiʻi’s top jazz vocalists Rachel Gonzales, longtime collaborator pianist Les Peetz, and versatile bassist Kathryn Schulmeister bring their talents to Hawaiʻi Public Radio’s Atherton Studio on May 27 at 7:30 p.m. Their program will be an unconventional mix of jazz standards, twentieth century classical, Sixties pop, plus free improvisations.

Hawaiʻi Public Radio presents an evening of music, storytelling, and aloha from Hōkū-winning slack key artist Patrick Landeza in the Atherton Studio on Friday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m. Landeza will be featuring songs from his latest album “Hoʻomanaʻo” (translates “to remember”), which is currently on the final ballot of the 2017 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award, Slack Key Album of the Year. He will also share stories of learning slack key from some of the masters of the genre, as detailed in his newly released memoir From the Island of Berkeley, CA.

Hawaiʻi Public Radio concluded its spring 2017 fund drive today at 11:30 a.m., exceeding its goal of $900,000 ahead of schedule. The first $135,000 were raised before April 19; the remaining $785,450 donations were received during the subsequent nine and a half days of on-air fundraising on both of HPR’s newly re-formatted stations.

Multi-lingual jazz vocalist Allison Adams Tucker returns to open the 2017 Atherton Summer Season on Friday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m. with a travel memoir in song. The jazz-inspired music and stories from her third album “WANDERlust” span countries and genres in six languages, and include tunes from Björk and Christina Perri to Astor Piazzolla, Pat Metheny and Antonio Carlos Jobim to Ennio Morricone, and even ancient Japanese folk songs.

Hawaiʻi Public Radio is pleased to announce the appointment of award-winning journalist Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi as its new general assignment reporter. Hiraishi joined HPR’s seven-person news team on April 10, 2017.

Hawaiʻi Public Radio launches its on-air fund drive on April 19. The goal for the 10-day fundraiser is $900,000. Nearly eight hundred donors responded to the pre-drive campaign with early gifts totaling $124,882.

Go to the App Store (on iOS devices) or Google Play (Android). Search for “hpr” – look for our new logo – and follow the rest of the instructions to download it at no cost. Works on iPhone 4S, 5/6/6+, iPod touch, iPad2 and newer, iPad mini, Android (small, medium, and large screens), Android tablets and Kindle Fire HD and newer.

2. If I’ve downloaded a previous version of the HPR app, do I still need to install this new one or can I simply update the old one?

Hawaiʻi Governor David Y. Ige and Lt. Governor Shan S. Tsutsui have proclaimed February 14 – 21, 2017 “Hawaiʻi Public Radio Week.” The proclamation asks “the people of the Aloha State to join us in tuning in to the two locally grown HPR stations” and recognizes HPR for delivering “the highest standards of independent broadcast journalism, music and entertainment.” It goes on to list the station’s 35 years of accomplishment and community service. The Proclamation may be found in full at bit.ly/hprweek.

Hawai‘i Public Radio is pleased to announce that 20 station members have been elected to its new Community Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB represents the diversity of HPR’s statewide membership and serves in an adjunct (non-fiduciary) capacity to the nonprofit’s existing Board of Directors. The role of the CAB is to represent the community in providing feedback to the station on its programming and outreach opportunities.